Mideast Diaries

Last night I went for a walk around Damascus. I asked the guy at the hotel desk where I should go and he took out a map and pointed me to a particular street. He said, “It’s class. This street is class.” I asked if that meant that’s where the rich people live and he said yes. It was a long walk to get there, so I got to see a lot of Damascus. It’s such a strange city. It is these endless big gray concrete buildings. There are some neon lights, very few, and overall it feels like it could easily be Moscow 1955. (more…)

The Road to Damascus is well paved, in most places, but it’s a bit scary. It’s a wide road, with cars driving in both directions. And I’ve never seen a highway so long that has absolutely no painted lines. It’s just a wide slab of asphalt for an hour and a half. I guess it makes sense, since Lebanese drivers never observe any sort of traffic law like a lane, so why bother painting it. (more…)